Unexpectedly In Love
by KayyKayyBear
Summary: When Hermione's engagement heads downhill, she falls apart. She never would have expected Draco Malfoy to be the one to pick up the pieces though.
1. Chapter 1 Sudden Change of Routine

**Chapter One**

_**A Sudden Change of Routine**_

I'd spent countless hours wondering if my life had taken the right path lately. Things just didn't seem like they were supposed to be this way. I was lonely. Lonely when I was supposed to be engaged. I'd never thought things would go sour with Ron. For four years everything had stayed perfect. Complete bliss. But now I was wondering why I stayed. Why I was still standing at the stove waving my wand at different pots to prepare his dinner. I felt selfish for feeling this way. Ron loved me. He told me so. What I didn't understand was why he had deemed me undesirable. Why our relationship had begun to head downhill. We were no longer intimate. No longer the way we had been when we first got together. I'd tried. He was unreceptive to my efforts to make this relationship work.

My heart jumped when the door opened. The kitchen had a creaky door. Something he'd promised to fix weeks ago. I wondered if he had forgot or was just being lazy. He had a knack for laziness. It was something we argued about constantly. "Hi Ron." I said softly as I flicked my wand at a bowl on the counter. "You're awfully late." His excited expression obviously caused from the food being cooked dropped when I said this.

"I stopped at Harry's house on my way home. Wanted to see if he was still going to dinner at Mum's this weekend." He answered. I wanted to believe him but something in his eyes said I shouldn't. He'd become so different and I didn't know what to believe. Everything had been so peacefully routine at one point. After four years everything was changing and I didn't like it. In fact I despised whenever my routines changed. But I could feel a bigger change coming on soon enough. One lie after another was stewing in my mind and I'd had about enough.

Dinner was finished within minutes of his answer. A few more wand movements and his place was set at the table. His face scrunched in confusion. "Aren't you going to eat?" He asked. It wasn't normal for me to not sit down and eat dinner with him. This was another part of the routine.

"No, I'm going out. I have something I need to take care of. I'll be back as soon as possible." I replied. He shrugged and sat down at the table. That was it. That was his only reaction. There was one point in time when he would whine until she sat down and ate dinner with him. Why wasn't he whining? Why couldn't he just be like he always was? I wanted to scream but I contained myself as I grabbed my cloak and wrapped it around my shoulders.

The sound of the door closing resonated through the cool summer air. Our flat was located in the heart of London. I needed to get away. Going to Harry and Ginny's house would be risky seeing as they could easily contact Ron. The same with George. My own parents were on holiday in Brazil. What did you do when you didn't know where to go? It didn't take me long to answer my own question. I stuck my wand out and within seconds and triple-decker purple bus pulled up. The Knight Bus. I stepped inside and directed them to bring me somewhere quiet, somewhere where I could be at peace.

My knuckles were white as I clutched the edge of the seat. Any smart wizard would follow suit. The Knight bus moved so quickly and frantically that the contents of the bus were a bit shaken up by the time they reached their destination. It was seconds before the bus stopped. I was surprised. I'd thought it would take longer to find a place like she'd asked for. I paid the toll and stepped off the bus. It was a park of sorts. Or something along those lines. Either way I followed the paved path along. My brows furled when I caught site of a few peacocks in the field. Never before had I been to any park with peacocks. I looked back and noticed that the Knight Bus hadn't even dropped her off on a road. Just on a patch of grass in the middle of this place. There were trees surrounding the field pretty close but I could see and opening up ahead.

The opening revealed a large house in the distance. I still hadn't any clue where I was. Was it common for the Knight Bus to drop you in the middle of nowhere? Either way it didn't matter, I was approaching a garden. A magnificent one at that. My eyes were wide as I examined the garden I had stumbled upon. There were plants I'd never seen before residing in the hedge walls of this paradise and at the center was a large marble fountain. Without much deliberation I sat upon the edge of the marble fountain. I was alone. Completely alone and it felt good to have that kind of privacy. All that could be heard were crickets chirping and the sound of the water trickling behind me. Somewhere quiet and peaceful was what I had asked for and my wish had been granted.

It was then that I burst into tears. The weight of the past month was coming down hard. I couldn't old the tears in anymore. I felt like everything I had worked so hard to earn since the war ended was being smashed to pieces. It was funny how love could make a person fall apart that way. How even if you had the most perfect life, having your heart broken could send you tumbling down. My life was becoming what I'd never wanted. I'd never wanted to hurt this way. Nor did I want to feel like I wasn't loved.

When my sobs finally calmed, I pulled my tear-soaked hands away from my face. The ring on my finger seemed to say it all so well at one point. I pulled the silver band off my finger and examined the Princess cut diamond. The perfectly square diamond glistened in the moonlight. On the inside of the silver band was an inscription. _To the love of my life. RW._ The RW was a sign of how possessive he was in my eyes. He put his initials there to claim ownership. Well I wasn't going to be owned. A noise off in the distance startled me and absent-mindedly I set the ring on the fountain. I knew I should head home before Ron started calling around. He'd get angry and she didn't have it in her to argue. She rose and headed toward the empty field so she could apparate back home.

By the time I'd gotten home Ron was fast asleep in bed. He hadn't even noticed she was gone most likely. He had pushed her out of his routine slowly. All these routines were starting to make her sick but she knew that even if you tried to avoid routine in life it always came back to you. People never felt truly comfortable until they were following something familiar.

(Draco's POV)

The Manor was sickeningly empty now-a-days. Sure mother still resided within the walls but she kept to her side of the house. She didn't even come down for dinner anymore. She just sat up in her wing of the house and had everything brought to her by the house elves. She was missing his father and he knew that. Lucius had given in to cowardly ways. He let the defeat of Voldemort eat him away until he finally just disappeared. A week after he ran off he was found dead somewhere in Romania. Rumored to have been attacked my some kind of creature. I'd always had a feeling that he didn't put up a fight. He had felt like a failure and Lucius Malfoy could never live knowing he was a failure.

It had hurt me a bit but the pain it had caused mother was even more painful to me. She was an empty shell without father. Lifeless and dull. I made a habit of checking on her everyday but she never really responded too well. She was waiting for the inevitable. Death. So that she could be with father once more. I never could understand their relationship. Father was an asshole, to put it in plain words. He was horrible to everyone. But to mother, he was the sweetest man. It was like he didn't dare treat her badly. I was yet to find a love like that. Despite popular belief, I did want a love like my parents had. I'd been looking for that kind of love since I could remember. There were a lot of things people didn't expect from me. I admitted more things to myself than to anyone else though. Saying something like this to just anyone could be risky. They could use it against him or it could ruin his reputation. He had a reputation as a cold hearted Malfoy to keep up. Especially seeing as he'd disappointed his father enough while he'd been alive.

Night had fallen hours ago. It was getting closer to morning as I made my way out to our garden. It had been something mother had wanted when she still had life in her. She had loved the garden. It was her project that she had taken pride in. Everything else had been father's idea or my idea. But the garden was mother's idea.

Lately I'd been making trips out to the garden to clear my mind. My thoughts had been racing at an insane speed now that I'd taken over my father's job at the Ministry of Magic. It had never seemed like he worked very hard but it seemed like I worked my ass off everyday. I knew everyone blamed me for him being gone. Because I couldn't be what he had wanted. I couldn't be like him. There was too much of my mother running through my blood. And not many people knew how kind-hearted she was. Not all Slytherin students were cold hearted. Narcissa Malfoy was one of those few that had been placed in Slytherin but had unknown kindness within them. I had been seen as the Slytherin prince in school. I was a symbol. Keeping appearance was important. Giving others a hard time came with that reputation I'd been forced to keep up.

After the war I didn't pay much mind to what people expected of me. In fact, many were saying I'd become more like my mother and less like my father. In truth, I'd always been more like my mother. As I reached the garden I could smell the combined scents of all of mother's favorite flowers. She'd been very selective with flowers when designing the garden. His shoes thudded on the stone path as he walked to the fountain. A glint of light caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He squinted to see what had made it.

There sitting on the edge of the fountain was a diamond ring. He lifted it in between his fingers and examined it. He'd seen afew diamonds in his time and could tell the difference between an emerald cut and a princess cut. This one was definitely a princess cut. He examined the inscription on the band. "RW?" He said aloud. His face was scrunched in confusion. He knew he'd seen that diamond somewhere before. Recently too. He though long and hard. Trying to retrace his steps and then it hit him. "Granger."


	2. Chapter 2 Someone Save Me

**Chapter Two:**

_**Someone Save Me**_

_Note: I do not own anything but my original characters and orginal plot lines. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy. =) And also I apologize for switching in and out of first person in the first chapter. Sorry this took so long guys._

He was going to kill me. Sure our relationship was on the rocks but I hadn't planned to start walking around withoutmy ring on. I was frantic searching everywhere. Ron had been asleep by the time I came home and luckily he had gone before I woke. As he usually did. I just hoped I wouldn't run into his father at work. That could cause some interesting and unecessary drama. His father was always one to notice things, he was such a curious man. I had no time to dwell on it though, being late for work wouldn't make it any better.

Working in the ministry was interesting. Aside from the fact that Draco Malfoy worked in the same department. He had landed himself a job as the Junior Minister of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Which technically made him my boss. I was the head obliviator. A job that could be tiring some days. Traveling around fixing everyone else's fuck ups. Once upon a time I was nice about it all. Always giving the people a pleasant attitude and saying 'Just be careful next time.' Lately my attitude had changed though. Being nice gets so old when all you are doing all day is fixing someone else's mistakes.

The department was always full of chatter and memos flying around. Even when there were busy days and the good majority of my obliviators were gone, the department was still loud and crazy. It all became a faint buzzing when I sat in front of my desk and took a deep breath. A few memos began flying around my head. I put my hand out and they landed in my hand, laid themselves flat and waited to be read. The first three were notes from the triplets we had as obliviators asking for next week off for a family function in Switzerland. The last one was a note scribbled in elegant print. Suprisingly such beautiful handwriting belonged to Malfoy. 'Please come see me once you arrive.' I groaned. What could he possibly need me for? It was more like I was dragging myself than walking as I made my way to his office.

The door swung open before I reached it. I peeked in and he motioned for me to enter. His office was surprisingly light. The windows had heavy drapes but they were pushed back. Even I had to admit that Malfoy had calmed down and matured once he met his twenties. Part of me just knew he had some kind of evil still lurking within. All old mannerisms never disappeared so quickly. It was impossible to become a completely different person. He was Draco Malfoy. I'd forever have the image of an unpleasant little git whenever his name was spoken.

"I believe you are missing something." He stated simply as I sat before his desk. I had to show a tiny bit of respect. He was my superior, even if I didn't like it. It was then that I noticed the all too familiar silver ring sitting upon his desk. My eyes grew wide. "It is your ring then?" He asked, as if he weren't completely sure. The look on my face alone gave it away.

"Yes, it is. I'll just take it and be on my way then." When i reached for the ring he placed his hand over it. I knew I was a fool to believe he would make this simple for me. "Why must you always be such an insufferable -"

"Do not judge my actions. I would just like to know why you were in my mother's garden. You had to have been for your ring to be there." His hand remained over the ring. Giving me no other choice but to answer his question.

"The Knight Bus brought me there. If I had known it was your property I would have left. I am a very busy woman so I would appreciate if you handed over my ring so I could start my work." My patience was wearing thin. What exactly were his intentions? Was he looking for some incredible story about me spying on him and his family?

"Where exactly did you ask the driver to bring you?"

"Somewhere peaceful. Like I said, I did not even know it was your property." His expression was not readable. He wasn't angry, he wasn't smirking in that evil way he did so many years ago.

"Well then, I guess you may have your ring. As long as you at least make your presence unknown the next time you decide to escape to my garden. Mother would be unpleased to know someone was lurking around in her sanctuary." At that he slid the ring across his desk toward me. I picked it up but didn't put it back on, instead I just held it in my hand for the time being. I would never admit that I liked the way my hand felt without that band around my finger. It was more like a shackle, holding me to a life that wasn't everything I had dreamed it would be.

"Are you implying that I have permission to lurk around your mother's garden as long as I leave no trace next time?" This part of his statement threw me off a little bit. Had he really softened that much that he would allow someone he once hated to roam around on his land. It was his afterall. Hs father would rot in Azkaban for the rest of his life, which meant Draco owned it all. Rumor had it that his mother had gone crazy. Any woman without the man they loved could be deemed crazy though. Love does terrible things more often than great things. At least from my point of view that was how it worked.

"You seem like you could use a sanctuary as well." I had no reply for that. It was obvious that he was a bit better at reading me than I was at reading him. I wouldn't admit it though. "Now if you'll excuse me..." At that I nodded and left. I'd been working with him for a couple years now and still could not get used to him being nice. It just didn't seem to fit. He as supposed to be the obnoxious git that made my life a living hell. Although he had tortured me relentlessly, ith this ne found maturity it as hard to ant to strangle him. Even in his first year working at the ministry he had still given me quite the attitude. Something had changed.

For the time being I was saved. I slipped the ring back onto my finger. I nearly winced as I did. The weight of our marriage fell back upon my shoulders. What the hell was I going to do?

**AN: Hope this chapter was okay and again I'm sorry it took so long for me to decide to continue this.**


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